


Lost and Found

by Moonlessnite



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Affection, Affectionate Castiel (Supernatural), Cannon Divergence, First Kiss, Happy Ending, I Love You, Light Angst, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Language, Out of the Empty, Season 13 Castiel and Dean Winchester Reunion, Season/Series 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 10:46:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18342095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlessnite/pseuds/Moonlessnite
Summary: Against all odds and hope, Castiel is back. He fought his way out of the Empty and back to the Winchesters. Is he going to make this second chance count?Dean thought all was lost when suddenly, Castiel was brought back into his life. Will he let him slip away again? Or can he finally tell him how he feels?





	1. Somebody found me here. Somebody held my breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Christian_the_bluefrog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Christian_the_bluefrog/gifts).



> This fic was inspired by Christian_the_bluefrog and the song Lost and Found by Katie Herzig.

Dean sits in the two a.m. silence, feeling lost. His only light is the low illumination of the golden lamp on the table in the Man of Letters bunker. 

 

His fingers rest lightly on the edge of the glass in front of him. One tip circling the rim in slow, repetitive movements. His eyes are slightly narrowed, fixed on a small scratch in the mahogany top without really seeing it. The book he’d been reading sits open near his elbow. Pushed off to the side. There was nothing in any of the lore about this thing called The Empty, but the very thought of it made his stomach cramp uncomfortably. 

 

Sam had stumbled off to bed about two hours before, yawning the whole way as he’d tossed his too long hair from his face. The two brothers weren’t getting any younger and days on the road took their toll more so every year. Their resident Nephilim had been put to bed, despite the kids assurances he hardly needed to sleep.

Dean had shooed him off when his head hit his folded arms on the table for the second time in half an hour. Castiel had walked Jack to his room. A fatherly arm around his shoulders as he’d thrown a blue-eyed glance Deans way before disappearing down the hallway with the boy.

 

The angel had yet to return and Dean still couldn’t seem to want to sleep. 

 

Not that he slept much lately. Hell, not that he’d slept much most of his life. He tended to subsist off bitter black coffee, cheeseburgers and pie in roadside dives, and whatever brand of beer or whiskey was the cheapest. The alcohol had stopped lulling him to sleep years ago and yet he raises the glass and takes another drink. Old habits tended to die hard. 

 

There had always seemed to be some reason Dean couldn’t close his eyes. 

 

He had to admit it had gotten a bit easier since the discovery of the bunker. For the first time since he was four years old, he had a home other than Baby. A place he could call their own. His and his brother’s. Castiel’s. Now Jack’s. Their small version of a family painstakingly built inside these stone halls and previously empty rooms.

 

_ Castiel…... _

 

Dean sets the glass back down and raises his now free hand to rub his forehead before glancing behind him to the empty, darkened hallway. Just thinking the name of the angel sped up his heart in his chest. 

 

That was a good portion of why the hunter couldn’t sleep tonight. Hadn’t been able to sleep at all on the day and a half drive after picking up Castiel. Even when Sam forced him to take the backseat and try to get some shut eye, he’d had a hard time tearing his gaze away from the angel. Getting his mind to accept the realization that he had Castiel back. That it wasn’t some desperate dream born of a sometimes suicidal desire to stop the pain that was never far from the surface. 

 

He and Sam and had lost their mom. Again. Things hadn’t been perfect, but they were family. Dean would have made it right, but that chance had been destroyed. They’d lost Crowley, smarmy bastard that he was. As much as the hunter didn’t want to admit it, in the deepest part of the night, he knew there was a hole in his heart that the King of Hell had left when he’d taken himself out to trap Lucifer. 

 

But Castiel…….

 

Dean knew he was broken, but he’d never been truly destroyed until that darkest night had exploded into blue-white light as Castiel’s Grace had been ripped from his vessel. 

 

Now, his angel was home and safe. Against all odds. Beyond anything he ever felt he deserved. A literal answer to his prayers, Castiel was back in his life once again. And that was the rub, wasn’t it? What had he done to warrant such a gift being given back to him? He wasn’t worthy. He never had been. Certainly not enough of anything to have a guardian angel. 

 

The hunter had been ready to just give up when the simple ring of a phone changed the course of his existence. 

 

He would never forget the way his heart screamed Castiel’s name as he’d hit the breaks of the Impala in the empty, back alley. Fear that what they found was a trap. That he wouldn't be real. Nothing but another loss. Someone else he cared for snatched away from him. 

 

That night, Dean had found a slice of hope in the astonished look on his angels face as their eyes met. The warmth of him once again in the hunters embrace. Strong arms wrapped around Dean like the feel protective wings. A scent that was a little musky intertwined with the sweet aroma of honey and a hint of cinnamon. 

 

He’d never wanted to let go. Could have been perfectly content spending the rest of his life wrapped in the clutch of those strong arms. The tattered trench coat lightly brushing against his blue-jean clad legs. Their two hearts beating in perfect harmony as Castiel’s breath lightly brushed along the nape of his neck and sent a shiver down his spine. 

 

Dean had mentally counted the seconds before stepping back and letting his brother have his own turn to hug the angel. Blinked a few times to banish the tears welling along the line of his bottom lashes. Wished he was brave enough to follow the screams in the back of his head telling him to grab the fucking man and kiss him already. 

 

The whole ride back he’d alternated between joy and fear. Was still feeling a swirl of contradiction. Anxiety causing his mind to spin and never be able to settle on one thing for very long. 

 

He'd been fascinated and terrified of this being in the beginning. A warrior of God and Heaven. A God Dean hadn't even believed in at the time. However, he’d found out over the years that Heaven, Hell, and God, certainly believed in

 

Over the years, he’d realized he'd fallen in love with Castiel. He wasn’t sure when it had actually started. Most of the time he didn't, couldn't, acknowledge it. Even to himself. The times he did think about it, he'd always wondered when it started. 

 

Maybe it was when he’d watched Castiel nervously chug beer in that seedy whorehouse before the showdown with Raphael. Or when the angel had come back the first time, brought back by God himself and had healed both Bobby and Dean in one of his darkest hours. It could have been when the hunter had tried to stop Castiel from taking the Angel Tablet. Naomi had tortured the angel, broken his will, and still he had fought back the compulsion to kill Dean. There was also the time Castiel had given up his army in Heaven, all to protect and stand beside the hunter. Or that horrible day, as he'd watched the angel's head sink below the glittering water as he was destroyed by the Leviathan in his insane quest to fix the world. Lost to Dean forever. 

 

Perhaps it wasn't just one, particular moment.

 

A million looks shared. A thousand small touches. Hundreds of battles. Dozens of fights, betrayals, reconciliations, and losses. The hunter and the angel always seemed to find their way back to each other. 

 

Dean knew he kept being given this amazing man as a gift. Would he finally feel worthy to accept that gift before it was really too late for the last time? How many more chances would he have? 

 

Nausea rolls through him as he slams the book beside him shut with a bang that echoes throughout empty anteroom. With a scream of equal parts rage and frustration being choked back in his throat, he drops his head into his hands.  _ Damn it all.  _

 

“Dean?”

 

The deep, questioning voice throws him out of his inner thoughts with a jerk. His hands drop from his face and he whips his head around to see Castiel standing in the open hallway. The angel is backlit by the dim flicker of bulbs turned low. A golden halo seeming to incase his form. He was so beautiful it made a knot well up in Dean’s chest. The hunter covers the moment of intense emotion by clearing his throat and averting his eyes. 

 

Raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck, he glances up at Castiel and then back to the floor. “What’s up Cas?” 

 


	2. Somebody saved me from the world you left

 

 

Castiel closes the door to Jack’s room as quietly as possible. The boy had finally nodded off after the angel assured him for the thousandth time that he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

 

He still wasn’t sure how this kid had wormed his way into his ever expanding heart in such a short time. 

 

All Castiel had known for millennia was duty and tradition. He had been a soldier. A warrior of Heaven. At the start of the Apocalypse, his role had been to brave the demons and fires of Hell to save the Righteous Man. To raise, rebuild, and ready this human who was destined to be the vessel of his older brother who would, once and for all, banish Heaven’s greatest threat. 

 

As he moves away from the bedrooms and back towards the main room in the bunker, Castiel can’t help but give a self-deprecating smile and shake his head. A being that has been around since the beginning of time, and it’s only been the last nine years that have changed him in ways he never could have fathomed. 

 

Castiel had always been different. 

 

Too much heart, Raphael had said. Michael had always scolded him and noted he had his head in the clouds. Even Gabriel, irreverent himself at times, had shaken his head at him when he'd snuck off to watch humanity. The angel with too many questions. 

 

As he'd grown in power, assumed his own Garrison, he'd learned to follow the law of his Father. He'd become the warrior he was always told he was meant to be. 

 

Castiel would never forget his first journey into Harrow Hell to retrieve Dean. The heat of the fire. Screams of the damned. Power of the demons striking at him and those who followed him. Cries of dying angels and demons alike. 

 

Sulfur had choked him. Darkness tore at his Grace and tried to consume him. The feeling of battle rage as these abominations tried to keep him from his mission. 

 

The hunter hadn't been easy to find. Tucked deep away in one of Hell's most inhospitable corners. The soul of the man called Dean Winchester was well on its way to becoming a demon by the time he found him.  And yet, there was still such brilliance mixed in with the darkness that Castiel was almost blinded by its light. The soul had fought him as he was pulled away from his latest victim, but the Seraph had been stronger. 

 

Although he hadn't known it then, from the moment he'd touched Dean, Castiel was forever changed. The Seraph he had been had no idea that he would truly, and irrevocably, fall in love with the greatest man he had ever known. 

 

That love……the Angel knew it might never be reciprocated. However, this death had taught him something. Chuck wasn't around to bail them out anymore. He couldn't count on another second chance. No more do overs. This life was the most precious gift he had.

 

Castiel knew now that he had to make the most of this gift he was given. He had to tell Dean how he felt. 

 

The smile fades from the angels face and his steps slow as he passes by the open door to Dean's room and glances in. A corner light illuminates the empty bed. The hunter is predictably absent but part of Castiel had hoped he'd be wrong and the man would be asleep. 

 

Something was wrong with Dean. He'd felt it as soon as the hunter had wrapped his arms around him. 

 

The older hunter had been quiet most of the ride back to the bunker. Sam had finally forced Dean out of the driver's seat when the Impala had veered onto the shoulder of the highway for the third time. Castiel had eventually taken his own turn when Sam got tired. The younger hunter had gotten what sleep he could, but Dean hadn't. The angel had caught his eye in the rearview mirror a few times but the older hunter had always hastily looked away. 

 

Castiel hadn’t failed to notice the concern in Sam’s eyes as he'd watched Dean when the older hunter wasn’t paying attention. There was a bruised look in the younger man’s gaze. A tired vulnerability in the lines of his face. The angel knew Sam loved him like he was another brother, but even the joy of having their trio reunited wasn’t enough to lift the cloud of worry that surrounded the youngest Winchester like a pall. Talking to Sam was on the angels list of things to do, but the hunter needed sleep. Since he was right about Dean still being awake, he figured it would be best to go right to the source anyway. 

 

Castiel moves quietly through the hallway and into the anteroom. His assumptions were proven right when he saw Dean sitting alone at one of the tables. The dim light shadowed more than it revealed of the hunter, but even from the distance, he could practically feel the stress rolling off the tight shoulders of the figure sitting there. 

 

_ Oh Dean….you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. And you don't have to.  _

 

As he watches, the hunter buries his face in his hands. The Angel speaks out, almost without meaning to. “Dean?” He frowns as the man whips around before quickly avoiding his gaze and making a futile attempt to rub the tension from his neck

 

“What’s up Cas?” The hunter's voice was rougher than usual. Castiel had no trouble, even in the low light, seeing the bluish circles under the other man’s eyes. The veins in the hand he drops to his lap are prominent, almost as if the skin is being stretched too thin over his bones.  _ Dehydration. Exhaustion. Probably a combination of both.  _

 

The Angel shakes his head in dismay as he moves a few steps forward, arms hanging awkwardly at his sides. Now that he’s here, he doesn’t want to push Dean. He just wants him to rest. They can talk in the morning. They don’t need to hash everything out now….

 

Castiel flinches and closes his eyes as a loud voice in his head starts yelling before he can even complete his litany of excuses.  _ Are you serious? You were dead! Permanently dead! You’ve got a chance to tell him how you feel and you’re going to wuss out because he looks a little tired? How many times have either of you died? How many fucking chances do you think you have left?  _

 

The voice is almost alien but Castiel knows it’s the part of him that’s been being built ever since he chose humanity over Heaven. The angel doesn’t realize it, but Dean had noticed the twitch and was on his feet. Isn’t aware the man was so close until a strong hand wraps around his upper arm and shakes him gently. Dean’s gruff voice is right in his face as he asks in a worried “Cas? Buddy? You alright?” 

 

As Castiel opens his eyes his gaze is met and held. The full lips he’d dreamed about kissing are turned down in a frown. Green eyes, like the ocean under morning's first light, are narrowed in concern as his gaze sweeps the Angel from head to foot. This close, he can see the little flecks of gold that dance around the iris of the hunter’s eyes. The two day growth of beard lining his face that’s flecked through with hints of grey. Lines appearing more prominent in his forehead as he frowns. 

 

Dean was human, and he wasn’t getting any younger. Beyond the danger that seeps into their everyday lives, Castiel was an angel in love with a mortal man. Too soon, old age would take the hunter from him, even if he managed to outlive everything else trying to kill them. 

 

_ How many more do overs do you think you’re going to get? This could be your last chance. Are you going to take it, or not?  _

 

This time, the voice is like the peal of a bell at dawn’s first light. Illuminating with the unmistakable ring of truth. 

 

In the space of a heartbeat, everything becomes clear for Castiel. He had been done. He had been over. Lost. Against all logic and odds, he was back, and in front of the one thing that had given his existence real meaning. So, the Angel does the only thing he can do. 

 

He kisses Dean. 


	3. If you're gonna cry my tears. If you're gonna hold my breath. If you're gonna let me see the sun you set

 

Dean watches as Castiel’s face twists and he closes his eyes, seemingly in pain. The hunter doesn't waste a moment before he's on his feet, chair falling backward and clattering to the ground in his urgency to get to the Angel. His thoughts spin irrationally, afraid that something was wrong. That Castiel could be pulled back somehow. That the Angel was going to disappear in front of him. His body gives a shudder of relief that Castiel is solid when he latches onto him with a desperate grip. 

 

“Cas? Buddy? You alright?” The Angel’s eyes pop open at his words and Dean inhales a sharp breath. He’d never seen eyes the color of Castiel’s before, or since. The hunter had tried a million times to find words to describe them. Blue just didn’t seem to cut it. They were like the luminous vision of an early morning Kansas sky. Like the late afternoon sun cutting across the ocean on the Oregon coast highway. Like lapis lazuli. That deep and endless. Except, not exactly like any of those things. They were a color unique to itself, and staring into them, Dean was lost. 

 

As he watches, Castiel’s beautiful eyes drop downwards briefly before closing and that’s all the warning Dean gets before the Angel’s lips are on his. 

 

The hunter freezes for one heartbeat. Two. Three. An incalculable number of thoughts scream through his brain at the contact. So fast he can’t seem to pick one out of the melee. He'd wondered about this. Imagined it. Had a million ideas of how, when, and why this could happen. Now that it  _ was  _ happening, he didn't know what to do 

 

His mind went into free fall. 

 

One pair of lips pressed to another. A bit of pressure as Castiel purses his mouth slightly. The Angel stepping into his space as his tie lightly brushes against Dean’s shirt. That familiar and beloved scent that he never thought he’d smell again surrounds him and pulls him down into beautiful oblivion. 

 

Between the fourth and fifth heartbeat, consumed in the heat of the moment, the thoughts suddenly don’t matter anymore. 

 

He finds himself kissing Castiel back.

 

Even though Dean had dreamed for years what kissing his Angel would feel like, every fantasy paled in comparison to the reality before him. 

 

The Angels lips were surprisingly smooth. Their kisses gentle and warm. Slow. Soft as the first breath of spring and just as unsure. A tentative hand presses against the side of Dean's face with a feather light touch. Pads of Castiel’s fingers rubbing gently against the stubble on his face. A light touch of the Angel's other hand wrapping around the curve of his lower back. Ever so gently pulling the two of them together. 

 

Dean is drowning in sensation he never knew he could feel. There was a warmth inside him. Something curling up from a place deep within. Stretching desperately to get closer, to feel more. He wanted to lose himself inside this man and forget where one began and the other ended. 

 

For once, he doesn't think. There are no questions. No hesitation. The hunter's arms wrap around his Angel, almost of their own volition. Fingers tangling in the softness of his dark locks. His arm grasping around the back of that rough trenchcoat to pull their bodies together. 

 

Their kisses deepen. Dean lightly probes at Castiel's mouth with the very tip of his tongue. The Angel makes a desperate whimper and opens to the unspoken request. Their tongues touch. Tentatively at first. Then, slowly, with more passion. Tangling together. Each kiss a tiny bit deeper than the last. 

 

The hunter can feel the burn of tears starting at the back of his closed eyes. A slight choking in his throat as emotion swells and threatens to overwhelm him. Not a harsh and cold feeling of loss, but tingling and sweet. Tinged with the slight bitterness of regret for all the years wasted that he could have had this, followed by a tidal wave of relief that it wasn't too late.

 

In the arms, the caresses, the love of the man in his embrace, he was found. 


	4. I am lost and found

 

 

Castiel can almost believe he's died and found his own personal Heaven. 

 

The years he'd loved Dean had seemed the longest of his existence. Thankfulness that this amazing human cared for him. Treated him like family. In every long night. Each time he was in his presence. When he watched from afar, the Angel had hoped, but never truly believed, the hunter could want him too.

 

When Castiel had jumped off the proverbial cliff and kissed Dean, he'd been prepared to be rebuffed. Pushed away. Humiliated. His whole body readied to be rejected. His mind had fallen into a black abyss of fear as seconds went by with no response from the man he was pressed against. Almost pulled away, but through his terror, that little voice kept whispering for him to hold on. 

 

As Dean begin to hesitantly kiss him back, Castiel's Grace had soared within him. Still moving slowly, he'd raised a hand and touched that beloved face. Marveled at the feel of his hunter's body against him. The caress of their lips meeting. The strength in the back his hand gripped. A touch that seemed to be the only thing holding him to earth and keeping him from floating away as pure joy filled him with love unlike anything he ever known he could feel. 

 

The touch of Dean's tongue against the Angel's lips had a whimper escaping his throat. A wordless exclamation of the desperate love inside him. A feeling of pure contentment and elation as he'd opened his lips. Allowed the hunter's tongue entry into his mouth. 

 

Kisses deepen. Their bodies sliding against each other of their own accord. Castiel tries to savor every touch. Every taste. Every desperate moment between him and the man who is everything worth living for. Try as he might to fight it, emotion overwhelms him and a tear falls from beneath his closed eyelid. Warm and salty, leaving a steak down his cheek and falling gently onto Dean's face. 

 

At the touch of wetness, the hunter pulls his head back with a gasp. Castiel's eyes pop open as he chokes back a cry of protest. Panic tries to flood up from inside him but he fights it back. Dean is still in his arms. Still close. 

 

A calloused finger reaches up and lightly touches the Angel's cheek where the tear had fallen away. The hunter's eyes dance over Castiel's face, a look of wonder lighting his features. He looks so joyful. Innocent. Such love softening his face that the Angel loses what breath hadn't been stolen by their kisses. 

 

“Cas…....I…..” Dean stumbles over his words. His cheeks suddenly flushing pink as his hand falls to a trenchcoat covered shoulder. The grip on Castiel's back is less firm than it had been a moment ago. A barely perceptible tremor runs through the strong body against him. 

 

The hunter is clearly at a loss for words, but that's ok. The Angel suddenly knows exactly what he needs to say. 

 

With a soft smile, he leans forward and gently nudges his forehead against Dean's. The other man's mouth opens as if to speak before closing. His other hand raises and grips Castiel's shoulder. Squeezes gently as an unsure smile trembles across his full lips. 

 

Castiel takes a deep breath and whispers the three little words he's tried to tell Dean before in every glance. Every decision. Every precious touch. “I love you.” 

 

The hunter blinks but the Angel doesn't give him a chance to respond. Doesn't even need him to. He simply leans forward and presses their lips together again. 

 

This kiss isn't like their first. This time, there's no hesitation. No hint of insecurity. The two fit like two puzzle pieces snapped together. Incomplete without each other but finally,  _ finally,  _ where they were always meant to be. 

 

All is quiet and warm. Safe. The two men lost in each other in the cavernous room. Time seems to stand still for the would be lovers as their kisses gain intensity. The gentle hands become grasping touches. Their bodies pressing so close that not even air can find space in between them. Warmth between them turning hot with need. 

 

Castiel gasps as his trenchcoat is pulled from his shoulders. His arms are wrapped around Dean and the material bunches up around his upper arms. That inconvenience doesn't seem to hinder the hunter as he breaks their kiss and trails his lips along the Angels face. 

 

Warm, wet kisses slide along Castiel's jaw to his neck as Dean nuzzles at the vulnerable hollow behind his ear. The world spins behind his closed eyes. Sucking bites move excruciatingly slowly down his neck. Teeth lightly dig into the muscle where his shoulder meets his neck and the Angel lets out a low moan, a streak of heat flushing down his body and pooling low in his belly. 

 

From down the hall, their growing passion is shattered at the sound of a slamming door. The two men break apart and both spin to look down the hallway. Castiel feels the tension rising in Dean as footsteps come there way.  _ No. Not now.  _

 

Without even being consciously aware of what he's doing, the Angel reaches out and grabs the hunter's hand. Between one breath and the next, his Grace moves the two to Dean's room in the bunker. The hunter stumbles as his balance is thrown off but Castiel is there to catch him immediately. 

 

“While I appreciate the lift Cas, a little warning would be nice next time.” Despite the chastising words, Dean's tone is soft. Warm with affection the Angel isn't used to hearing. There's a smile on his face but the sharp light of fear is growing in his luminous green eyes. 

 

Castiel smiles and pulls his hunter close again, backing the two to the narrow bed against the wall. Despite a lingering uncertainty, he's more than ready to finish what they started. “Dean….”, he starts to move in for another kiss but the hunter interrupts. 

 

“Cas. Wait.” The Angel freezes, searching the eyes that don't quite meet his. The love centered in his chest starts to turn cold as Dean continues speaking. “I… uh….. this is just moving a little quick for me.”

 

Castiel stops and cocks his head in question. As the hunter glances at him, he seems to freeze for a moment. Some hint of fear must have shown on his face because Dean grabs him and kisses him. A firm, claiming kiss that's over far too soon for the Angel's liking, but Dean is speaking again. 

 

“Cas…..I….I just….. Damn.” The hunter's laugh is more self deprecating than humorous. “You sure know how to knock thoughts right out of my fucking head.” 

 

The Angel's smile is slightly hesitant as he responds, tightening his grip on the man in his arms. “Dean… we don't….” He glances at the bed behind them before looking back at the hunter. “We don't need to consummate our feelings right now.” Castiel gently squeezes Dean's arms. “What we have now is enough.”

 

To the Angel's surprise, the hunter busts out laughing. “Consummate? Damn Cas. Almost a decade on Earth with me and yet you still sometimes remind me of the robot you were when we first met.” 

 

The easy smile on Dean's face has an echoing grin stretching his own lips. “I'm still learning. Everything I am now is because of you.”

 

Castiel watches as his words turn the hunter's expression serious again. “Cas.” He looks at a loss for what to say next before shaking has head and dropping his eyes. 

 

The Angel watches him for a moment before making a split second decision. He gently pulls out of the other man's arms. Watching Dean to make sure he's paying attention, Castiel sheds his ever present trench coat and tosses it over the empty chair in the corner. As he locks eyes with the hunter's suddenly intense gaze, he loosens his tie and it follows suit with the coat. Movements deliberately slow and careful, he backs up to sit on the empty bed. With an unsteady hand, he lightly pats the worn cover. “I just want to be near you Dean.”

 

A million thoughts seem to fly by behind the gaze boring into the Angels. With an abrupt movement, Dean kicks off his boots and moves with a predator's grace over to the bed, gently pushing Castiel back towards the headboard and climbing up beside him. 

 

Castiel's arms reach out, as if they'd done this a thousand times before, and he welcomes the feel of Dean stretching out partially on top of him. The hunter's body is warm as their legs entangle and Dean once again claims his lips in a deep kiss, all the more precious due to the whine of need that issues from him. 

 

For a time, all is peaceful and right. Nothing can harm them here in this space that is theirs alone. A place where they can, for once, let down their guard and indulge in feelings long denied. Fulfillment of a love built through loss and joy. Pain and celebration. The blessing of yet another chance, that both hunter and Angel agree through silent communication, will be appreciated to the fullest. 

 

Suddenly, Dean pulls back to issue a jaw cracking yawn that has Castiel snorting out a laugh. The hunter shoots him a disgruntled look but bumps their noses together affectionately. “Some of us haven't been sleeping much buddy.”

 

The Angel can't help but smile and say with a slight air of superiority, “Some of us don't need sleep.”

 

Dean simply rolls his eyes and shifts slightly onto his side, pulling Castiel face to face with him. “Well it's not my fault Chuck programmed us mere humans to have a reset button.”

 

Castiel purses his lips in concern, noting again the dark circles beneath the other man's eyes. The fatigue he could feel in the body he held. “Dean. Get some rest. I'll watch over you.”

 

The hunter looks up at his words and smiles shakily as he whispers, “Don't leave me again Cas. I…..need you.”

 

The Angel's heart swells in his chest as he pulls the man he loves close. The sweetness pouring through him has his Grace purring like a contented cat as Dean settles his head on the pillow of Castiel's arm. He presses his lips against the hunter’s forehead and snuggles in, breathing in that wonderful scent he can't imagine living without. His next words are uttered quietly into the comfortable silence. “I'm here Dean. I'm never leaving you.”

 

The body in his arms sighs deeply and sinks into their embrace. Castiel settles in to keep his hunter safe. He could lay forever with this man, simply watching him sleep, in total contentment. 

 

In that moment, Castiel promises to do anything and everything to cherish and protect this newfound love

 

As Dean slips down into an exhausted rest, Castiel hears him utter three words no louder than a breath. “Love you Cas.”

 

On the surface of the bed in the dimly lit room of a bunker in Lebanon Kansas. Wrapped in the arms of the Righteous Man he'd been sent to save so many years ago. The wayward Angel that rebelled from Heaven and lost his way, finally realizes he’s been found.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This one is dedicated to Christian. We're all sore and hurting from the announcement of the ending of our beloved show. Endings are hard, but nothing ever really ends, does it? The fandom is here. Forever and always. xoxo


End file.
